Updatey update.

[rmd]

So, it's been a little over a month since I was informed i'd be laid off effective 2/28/11. I figured there wouldn't be much action on the jobhunt front during the holidays since the wheels of 'arranging to exchange money for labor' tend to move slowly around then in the land of non-seasonal work. But now that we're into 2011, I've started kicking things into gear a bit more. I had a not-entirely-unsuccessful 2nd interview at one place where I didn't throw up or pass out or anything, so I'm presumably still in the running there. I've tossed my hat in the ring at a few other places. I've got my resume up on dice.com and have gotten a few nibbles for contract work (which I am not currently interested in [1]) and at least one FTE position that is a bit beyond my current geographical search area[2]. Nothing from the one recruiter I've talked to, and no answer from a couple of places I tossed my resume a couple of months back, before I got the layoff announcement. I've also gotten a nibble from the professional services group from a network gear vendor who has local offices, which is a bit outside my current sphere of greatest clue, but I'm looking forward to chatting about it with them regardless. So... things are progressing apace, I think. It definitely sounds like the general tech market isn't too bad -- several of the laid off folks who are out the door already or soon have things lined up either now or starting soon. I wouldn't expect things to move quite so fast for me since there are fewer senior neteng positions out there so that even if there's the same rate of churn, you're not going to see as many openings.

While there is a lot about startup culture I like, I really am not a good fit with a small startup -- you have to reach a certain size before you have a network that needs someone like me.

I continue to be nervous (my mood swings wildly between "woot! I'll get a job soon and with the severance $$ we can buy a new couch and stuff!" and "oh god, we'll be eating nothing but ramen and peanut butter in a few months and by september we'll have to move into a cardboard box under a bridge!"), but generally hopeful.


On the other hand, my Mini is sick. I went out to start it up this morning and only some of the diagnostic lights went on when I turned the key, and when I attempted to start the motor, the power window sputtered downward a few millimeters each time I tried to crank the engine. This is not the normal behavior for this car. Since it's fucked up electrical stuff, I'll probably take it to the dealer -- minis are getting more common now that they've been out there for a few years, but they're still not as generally-well-known as, say, a honda accord. So I'm thinking for something that out there, the bmw/mini techs are probably a better bet. I suppose I'll have to have it towed over. I haven't talked to them about it yet.

For today, I snagged clauclauclaudia and we pushed the mini out into the street and I started the truck and parked it on the street and then, with the help of a neighbor who happened by, we moved the mini back into the driveway. (My driveway is serial, not parallel, access.)


I have discovered a new form of crack. Or rather, new to me. I took advantage of some of the Baen free CD stuff (posted at thefifthimperium.com, which Bean appears to be turning a blind eye towards if not actually endorsing) and read Weber's "On Basilisk Station" which was, as expected, crack like popcorn fun of Horatio Hornblower in spaaaaaaaaace...

Also, if you like peculiar dry humor in the form of John Hodgeman and audio entertainment in the form of podcasts, you might enjoy the Judge John Hodgeman podcast. Each episode, Judge Hodgeman hears and decides on a case brought by two listeners. Past cases have involved "Does a room in this couples' dwelling constitute a 'den'?", "Should fiction include parentheses?", and "Are machine guns robots?"


[1] As part of my general risk aversion when it comes to employment-related stuff, I'm looking for an FTE not contract position. If I'm still unemployed in a few months, I'll certainly be revisiting the idea of contract work.
[2] I'd love to have a very short commute or a T commute. I'd settle for something within the general rt 128 area. In a few months, I'll be willing to go out to 495. Wait a few months beyond that and I'll be looking at things in NH. Relocation, however, is off the table for a few years, at least.
[3] And yet I have never read more than a little of "Infinite Jest"

Comments

[judith-s.livejournal.com]

Baen is posting a lot of their older stuff online for free. You can find tons more here: http://www.baen.com/library/

When we bought a hardcover book recently (Bujold's latest) it included a CDROM with all of the earlier books in the Vorkorsigan saga. Pretty cool.

[kjc.livejournal.com]

Updatey update is updateful!

Forward motion is a good thing.

Weber's Honor Harrington series remains awesome for several more books before it becomes tiresome. I shall endeavor to recall which one made me finally give up...

[diagonti.livejournal.com]

If you've not tossed your hat in at Akamai, let me know if you would like to. I can talk a bit about what its been to work there in fairly glowing terms. Not sure what they have open at the moment.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I have not tossed my hat in there. The positions I've seen listed lately look like they want a fair bit more script coding skillz than I've got at the moment, but I don't know how flexible they are on that.
Thanks!

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the job search.

Sounds like the Mini has a flat battery. Could be the battery or the alternator. Good luck with that too.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I was initially thinking that, but there's no change in the lights or sound alerts, and when I try to start the car, the driver's side window rolls down a bit.

I'll try jumping it before I send it off anywhere, just because, but I'm not at all hopeful.

Thanks.

[cz_unit]

Somehow missing ground strap on engine comes to mind.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I'd say battery on the Mini as well.

Good luck with the job hunt, but I'm glad you got a reasonable severance out of it...

I m re-reading the Honor Harrington series, I rather liked all of the books I read last year or the year before. I'm currently on Field of Dishonor.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

If it were the battery, I'd expect more 'unhappy car' noises/dim lights and fewer 'turn the car on? NO! LET'S ROLL THE WINDOW DOWN' responses from the mini. I'm hoping it's something simple like that -- the mini is a bit over 6 years old, so it's plausible the battery might be having a tough time of it.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I've seen nearly that, actually. Modern overly-electronic cars are just crazy. The good part is that at least it sounds repeatable; when that sort of stuff happens intermittently it's a real pain. (I'd also have a quick look at Mini-centric online fora, since if it's happened to you, it's probably happened to others.)

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Hm. True. The mini really is my first experience with these newfangled practically-fly-by-wire technological marvels that we have instead of plain old cars. I'm sort of ignoring it for now and will take my jumpstart pack down and see if that helps the mini reboot.

[blackanvil.livejournal.com]

I just replaced my battery on the 2003 mini, as it was clearly dying. Oddly, having the battery disconnected then reconnected seems to have fixed a couple of odd bits that had gone off -- the CD player now works again, and one of the HVAC buttons that hadn't functioned for a while now works again.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Ah. Good to know. Thanks! Hopefully current weather won't interfere with your trip north this weekend.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I had to replace the battery on my 2005 Mazda RX-8 recently, so they don't always last as long as they used to, it seems. Mine had the whole non-starty thing, but no ghosts.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Not sure when you last used a recruiter, but they're pretty fucking useless these days.

[muffyjo]

I enjoyed On Basilisk Station, too! Then again, I also liked Horatio Hornblower in his time (the mysoginistic bits have to be glossed over, but I try and keep in mind the timeframe).

Hang in there. You will not be homeless. There will be tea.

[flit.livejournal.com]

Brad has gotten me hooked on Honorverse! Every time I go '!' he points out that she's based on Nelson who really was that damn good. Crack in space INDEED.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*cheers you on*

[hariyos.livejournal.com]

you really never knew about baencd.thefifthimperium.com? You must not be monitoring my network traffic very much.

Oh wait, that's right, ssh tunnel.

They've got a *lot* of stuff up there. Obviously, you personally should probably stay the hell away from the Ringo stuff, but I think there's a bunch of Hammer's Slammers stuff up on fifthimperium, too. Also the entire Ring of Fire universe.

And the Honorverse starts out awesome, and gets kinda shitty right about the point where it splits into three major plotlines, and frankly only the major plotline sucks that badly. The Crown of Slaves and Shadow of Saganami plot-forks kind of rewind the badassery-level of the main protagonists - because they're not Honor, they're *new* Valkyrian female protagonists, so they've got a few books of buildup before they're nauseatingly perfect.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I was vaguely aware of the baencd stuff, but hadn't actually done much about it. (I haven't been reading much fiction for a few years for a variety of reasons and I'm getting back to that.) I've heard several times that the honorverse books start to sputter, but for now I get to read the rollicking good early stuff.

[johnromkey.livejournal.com]

"Are Machine Guns Robots" is one of my favorites.

[mtnvwpilot.livejournal.com]

The Mini problem is probably the battery, or wiring. What you're describing are all symptoms of low amperage; the voltage might be fine when there's no load on the battery (i.e., if you just stick a voltmeter across it while it's sitting there), but the juice isn't getting through when a load is placed on it. Might be the battery itself, might be the connection between the battery and the rest of the electrical system (try removing/cleaning/reattaching the battery cables).

The "roll the window down part way" thing is a safety feature, designed to keep you from getting locked in/out when the battery goes bye-bye. It is perhaps a misguided feature, but a "feature" none the less...

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Huh! It wouldn't have occurred to me that the window thing was a desirable behavior, but it makes perfect sense. (I have a glassbreaker in the door pocket for the mini because this is my first vehicle with power windows and the idea of being unable to roll down the window kinda weirds me out)

[lioritgioret.livejournal.com]

This is just a great piece of information, the window-roll thing. Because otherwise it just seemed so random and imparseable, and now it makes sense! Pattern-making monkey loves a pattern...

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

i will continue sending you good job-search vibes
thanks for the tips on podcasts - just starting to enjoy Judge John now :)